A friend of a friend, of a friend (always love starting out this way) has a 1969 Convertible Camaro for sale. He had it on ebay & was looking for 30k out of it, he didnt get it. I was told his bottom line price was 22k by a third party.

The camaro is supposed to be perfect. Mechanically, cosmetically, etc.

It is not an actual RS/SS based on some of the owner / friends comments on the restoration history (such as the new SS hood, the light covers, etc).

I have always wanted a gen 1 Camaro Convertible & I am not sure if I could get my money out of it in a few years. I do have a photo of the vin which starts with: 124678n.

If the Camaro looks as good as its photos/description, is 22k a fair price, overpriced? Could I get my money out of it?

I am looking for a driver, not a show car, though i could end up at a car show from time to time (not really my thing).

Question for seller I have:

1. What gears in the 10 bolt rear?
2. What carb is it running?
3. Is there A/C (I dont think there is)
4. Is there power steering or disc brakes?
5. Is there a powerglide transmission? - if not what is in it?

Looks like a nice car to me. The shifter looks like it is for a 3 speed automatic, so it probably doesn't have a powerglide.
I see no evidence of the car having A/C, and to really clone an SS Camaro a 12 bolt should be the rear end choice. I guess he pretty much just put the hood and emblems on the car and says it is a 'clone'.

I would think the car is worth 20-22K if it is mechanically sound and the car looks as good in person as it does in the pics. It would surely cost that much to buy a project and get it close to that condition.

It has power brakes; the round gold colored thing on the driver side firewall is a power booster. Cannot see if it has the holdoff valve that would indicate front disc brakes,

The lens on the shifter shows three forward gears; if the car has a TH350 (which is likely) it is not OE. OE auto trans with a small block would have been a Glide.

I can see the vacuum valves, lines, and reservoir on the underhood pic which make the RS headlihjy doors open and close. If it is an original RS car (there are ways to tell, such as stamped [vs. cut] openings for the reverse lights in the lower tailpan, the way/location the wires are routed to these reverse lamps in the trunk, and a stamped/punched [vs drilled] hole in the firewall to the side of the fuse block/bulkhead, where the vacuum lines to the headlight switch go through the firewall.

I can't count the number of coils on the hood springs in the pic; an OE SS hood had springs with 28 coils (vs standard hood 26 coils) to support the extra weight. Many who swap the SS hood on do not know about or bother with the springs.

If the rear spoiler was OE (more than likely was not), the pass side trunk spring will be slightly heavier duty than the other, again to support the weight. Adding a spoiler without doing anything with the spring is common, and a good way to get a concussion...

That front stripe would make me nuts. It is not a correct D91 "bumblebee" stripe, and depending on the car's build date, it could have had the D90 stripe (the style that turns and runs back at the body line and onto the door). I doubt you can really fix it though; that body color (which does not appear to be a factory 68 color) would probably be hard to match.

The condition of the rocker panels are particularly important on 1st gen verts. There are the inners (but up to floorboards) and outers (below the doors), and then another rib inside you cannot see. Because the outers are missing the chrome spear that all 1st gens had and the car does not have the RS-specific moldings on the lower body, I am betting that either the rockers are full of plastic filler or have been replaced. Take a magnet and a soft cloth to check. Also check inner rockers; original floors turn down and are spot welded at intervals to the inner rockers. If the joint looks different than this or there is a bunch of filler in the inners, that's not good.

While we are talking about rockers, open both doors and look at the area at the front where the panel the door hinges mount to meets the outer rocker. Cars with weak rockers develop stress/fatigue cracks at this joint.

There are also several convertible specific underbody reinforcements that need to be there and in good shape. There is a brace that is welded to the floor under the seat mounts and runs from rocker to rocker, wrapping up into the driveshaft tunnel. There is a removable "X" brace that bolts to this welded brace with three bolts per side, and the driveshaft and exhaust runs above this removable brace and in the tunnel. There are other vert specific braces that can get "lost" during resto; a couple of good, clear under body pics posted here would allow we vert guys to tell you if anything looks out of place.

The floor kickup over the rear axle under the rear seat brace panel is another common rust area on a vert, because there are 4 or 5 pieces of metal that join in this location.

A 1st gen vert should also have a "cocktail shaker" at each corner of the body; these are fluid filled and contain a spring with a counterweight. In the front, they are bolted to the rad support and through the inner fender at each end. The pass side will be hidden by the battery, and the driver side will be behind the RS vacuum tank. In the trunk, there should be one on each side, easily visible bolted to the sheetmetal around the trunk opening and to the trunk floor, just ahead of the taillights. If any of these shakers are missing, they can be pretty expensive to buy and ship.

IF the car is solid and drives well, and the top is in good shape, I wouldn't think $22K would be a bad price. But your best bet would be to read the info at the links I posted and on the CRG main page, and then post back here with as many pics as you can and as much info as you can get (drivetrain numbers, engine/trans/rear info from owner, etc) and we can have a better idea what it is you're getting yourself into here.

Nice car to say the least. Intake is not a '68, present intake has a AC bracket boss on drvr side, see it between air cleaner and valve cover.
Also, '68's have oil fill tube in manifold and would have the heater hose nipple out the front of the crossover, not out the top.
Still, a nice car for $22K, if all else mentioned is in good shape.

$22K is a fair price given the look of the car and unless the market drops further you should be able to get your money back out as long as the car stays in similar condition.

Other things to look at.

- Condition of the top. Look for tears along the fold points at the hinges. Condition of the top seals.
- Does anything leak when the car is hosed down ? Top seals, trunk, etc. Check the trunk for water.
- Cocktail shakers. All 4 corners should have counter balancers called cocktail shakers.
- Hard to tell from the under car pic but looks like the chassis cross brace may not be there. Easy item to add or upgrade to an aftermarket one.

It looks like it's worth 22K, but really you need to put it up on a lift and inspect the floor and trunk pans for signs of rust or shoddy rust repair. The underside of a first generation convertible makes a huge price difference.
Also, 123 VIN's bring less money, even on clones.
It looks to be painted late addition 1968 Camaro/Corvette British Green. Is the trim tag code Z?

So I was able to go look at the camaro today. It is definately a plain-jane (non-rs, non-ss) camaro that was dressed up. It started life as a Blue, then Red, now its 1999 Audi Green (I dont mind the color, its a forest green).

The top looks perfect & overall the car looks amazing to me.

I think the seller basically just wanted to 'make' a Camaro as he liked it. I have the following information:

Gears in 10 bolt are 3.08ís
No posi in 10 bolt
Engine is a 327
Transmission Turbo 350
Carb is a 4 BBL Quadrajet
Fisher body
Power Disc Brakes in front
Power steering
Color is from a 1999 Audi Green?
Cocktail Shakers installed on all four sides
X-brace near exhaust

Trim tag:

05E
68-12467 NOR144661
712
L2
ST
TR
99

Vin from window reg: 124678n445092

Trim tag does not match Vin.

There is a slight problem with the paint near the passenger door frame, he will fix it before i buy it. I am going to see if he can fix the stripe as well & maybe I will have him put a 350 emblem on it vs the current 396. He was planning on putting a 396 & didnt get around to it.

It is very clean & the car started right away. He mentioned it has a slight exhaust leak which he would fix it & also mentioned there was a noise in the rear bearing & he would address that too.

He is a full time mechanic who owns a shop in the area - he has a good mechanical reputation.

Rich, I would be careful with this one. I always get a little suspicious about a car with shiny fresh paint - you never know what is hiding underneath. There are hundreds of horror stories on this site by guys who bought similar cars that looked great when they bought them, only to have rust bubbling through the paint, rivets popping out of poorly installed quarter patches, and bondo showing up years later. Then they get to completely tear the car down and spend a ton of money doing it the right way.

Does he have any pictures of the restoration of the body as it was progressing to show what was done? How badly rusted was it before the paint, and exactly what metal was replaced on the car? You might do well to find someone who is experienced with paint and body to look at it with you. Does the bodywork look nice and straight when you look down the sides, or do you see ripples from bodywork underneath? Are the gaps of the doors, hood and trunk consistent? How do the doors shut? Check the gaps on the back side of the doors - if they are considerably closer at the top versus the bottom, this is often a sign of worn out hinges or, worse yet, a sagging body structure. This is especially important to check with convertibles. At the very least, get one of the bondo checking tools or a fridge magnet and check for excessive filler, especially in commonly rusted areas like around the wheel openings and along the rockers.

Good luck. It may very well be a nice, clean convertible, and in that case it would probably be worth around $20K, but if there is a lot of crummy rust repairs hiding under that shiny green paint, you will end up with at least another $10K in it to fix it right. Do your homework.

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